Competing With Good Enough

You have the more expensive solution. Your competitors sell what you sell, but at a lower price. But you have the superior offer. The way you compete with “good enough,” is to make it “not good enough.”

Justifying the Delta

The difference that makes you different from competitors who sell “good enough” has to be in the value that is worth paying more to obtain. If the differences do not create enough value to justify the delta between your offer and the “good enough” offer, you make it easy for your prospective client to choose “good enough.”

Your prospect has to agree that that value is worth paying for. So how do you make “best” a must for your potential customers?

Outcomes and Risks

It is critical that you focus on your prospective client’s most strategic outcomes and how your solution ensures they achieve the results they need.

If you don’t have a thorough understanding of your potential client’s strategic outcomes, then you’re going to struggle to beat “good enough,” whether it’s the status quo or a competitive offer. If you can’t speak to exactly how “good enough” increases the prospective client’s risk in obtaining those outcomes, then “good enough” wins. Better still is the ability to prove that “good enough” won’t allow your prospective client to obtain the results they need.

Without hanging your justification on your client’s most important needs, you risk losing to an inferior offer.

Settlers

Even when you can justify the delta between your higher-priced, higher value-creating offer and “good enough,” some of your prospective client’s will still choose “good enough.” This is a sad reality.

Some of your prospective clients will hold the belief that they can get by with something less than they need. (There is a strategy for this, but that’s for another post). Some mistakenly believe they can have better, faster, and cheaper. Other prospects will choose “good enough” because they have post-traumatic recessionary stress disorder and are fearful to spend more money.

There are buyers, however, who recognize value and will easily pay the higher price to avoid a solution that is merely “good enough.” They understand the need to invest in a solution that is in line with their goals.

Succeeding with a higher price in a category is a question create enough value to justify the delta between your product and one that is “good enough.”

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